SURPLUS PROPERTY: Who'll Buy?

Seven brine-stained Liberty ships
steamed eastward across the Pacific toward the U.S. They were carrying
home the same Army cargoes they had been taking to the Philippines; the
Army decided it had enough there already. Last week, in mid-Pacific,
the wireless sang out another order: turn west again and set a course
for Shanghai.

The Army had decided that the cargoes were surplus. In a matter of hours
the Office of the Foreign Liquidation Commissioner, which handles
foreign surpluses, had sold the cargoes of wheat, construction
materials and medical supplies to the United Nations Relief &
Rehabilitation Administration for $3...